AP: White House Calling Out Critics Of Door-To-Door Vaccine Push
“A disservice to the country.” “Inaccurate disinformation.” “Literally killing people.” For months, the Biden White House refrained from criticizing Republican officials who played down the importance of coronavirus vaccinations or sought to make political hay of the federal government’s all-out effort to drive shots into arms. Not any longer. With the COVID-19 vaccination rate plateauing across the country, the White House is returning fire at those they see as spreading harmful misinformation or fear about the shots. (Miller, 7/10)

Politico: Biden’s Vaccine Charge Hits A Wall
The Biden administration is running out of ideas for jumpstarting the pace of coronavirus vaccinations, raising the prospect that more than a quarter of American adults could still be vulnerable to the virus into the fall. The federal immunization campaign has slammed into rising partisanship and deep resistance among the 91 million adults who remain unvaccinated, turning what was once an all-out sprint into a marathon with no clear end in sight. (Cancryn, 7/12)

The Washington Post: Fauci Says There Should Be More Covid Vaccine Mandates At The Local Level
Anthony S. Fauci, the White House’s chief coronavirus medical adviser, said there should be more coronavirus vaccine requirements at the local level, though he has continued to insist the federal government will not mandate them. “I have been of this opinion, and I remain of that opinion, that I do believe at the local level, there should be more mandates. There really should be,” Fauci said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when host Jake Tapper asked whether he thought it would be a good idea for businesses and schools to require coronavirus vaccinations. (Wang, 7/11)

Politico: POLITICO-Harvard Poll: Americans Sharply Divided Over Vaccine Mandates
Americans are almost evenly divided over whether schools or most private employers should require Covid-19 vaccinations as part of reopening, according to a POLITICO-Harvard survey that shows how politically fraught any kind of mandate would be. Most Democrats support forcing employees and students to be vaccinated before they return to work or the classroom, and approve of government-issued documents certifying their status. Republicans oppose the government or most employers infringing on their individual choice. (Goldberg, 7/11)

The unvaccinated divide —

The Wall Street Journal: Young Americans Aren’t Getting Vaccinated, Jeopardizing Covid-19 Fight
Millions of Americans have rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated against Covid-19, but one group is well behind: young adults. Their reluctance is a significant part of why the U.S. missed the Biden administration’s goal of getting 70% of the adult population a first dose by July 4, and it is impeding efforts to develop the communitywide immunity sought to move past the pandemic and fend off Delta and other variants. Now government health authorities are dialing up efforts encouraging 18- to 29-year-olds to get vaccinated. (Cooper and Siddiqui, 7/11)

Axios: Most People Who Haven't Gotten A COVID-19 Vaccine Have Low Incomes 
More than half of unvaccinated Americans live in households that make less than $50,000 annually, according to the latest Census Bureau data. Making it easier for the working poor to get the COVID-19 vaccine, without dinging their already-low incomes, could help boost the country's vaccination rates. (Herman, 7/12)

Axios: Republicans' Push To Ban "Discrimination" Against Unvaccinated People 
State Republican lawmakers around the country are pushing bills — at least one of which has become law — that would give unvaccinated people the same protections as those surrounding race, gender and religion. These bills would tie the hands of private businesses that want to protect their employees and customers. But they also show how deep into the political psyche resistance to coronavirus vaccine requirements has become, and how vaccination status has rapidly become a marker of identity. (Owens, 7/12)

The New York Times: Fox News Hosts Smear Covid Vaccine, Despite Outbreaks Among Unvaccinated
Back in December, before the queen of England and the president-elect of the United States had their turns, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch received a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Afterward, he urged everyone else to get it, too. Since then, a different message has been a repeated refrain on the prime-time shows hosted by Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham on Mr. Murdoch’s Fox News Channel — a message at odds with the recommendations of health experts, even as the virus’s Delta variant and other mutations fuel outbreaks in areas where vaccination rates are below the national average. (Hsu, 7/11)

ABC News: Fauci Urges People To Put Politics Aside To Get Vaccinated As 'Nasty' Delta Variant Rages
Unvaccinated Americans should put politics aside and get vaccinated to protect themselves from the highly transmissible and "nasty" delta variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday. "What we're trying to do is to just put politics aside, this is no time for politics. This is a public health issue and viruses, and public health don't know the difference between a Democrat and Republican or an Independent,'' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos. (Morales, 7/11)

From the states —

The Washington Post: Everything Was Going Wrong In His Life. Then He Won D.C.’s Vaccine Lottery.
He lost his job, his home and his van during the pandemic. He says the free Metro fare that he won when he got vaccinated will help him get back on his feet. (Zauzmer, 7/11)

NPR: Getting Creative To Reach Unvaccinated Latinos In Denver
Bringing the mobile vaccine program to an international soccer match was the latest effort by the state of Colorado and its local partners to meet unvaccinated residents, wherever they are, rather than asking them to find the vaccine themselves. ... Colorado, and most of the nation, has now moved into a new phase involving targeted efforts and individual interactions and using trusted community influencers to convince the hesitant to get jabbed. (Daley, 7/10)

Associated Press: Minnesota To Close All But One Mass Vaccination Sites
Minnesota is planning to close all but one of its COVID-19 mass vaccination sites by Aug. 7. A statement from Gov. Tim Walz late Friday said the state will focus on the several hundred smaller vaccination sites around the state, at pharmacies and healthcare providers. (7/11)

AP: Pfizer To Discuss Vaccine Booster With US Officials Monday
Pfizer says it plans to meet with top U.S. health officials Monday to discuss the drugmaker’s request for federal authorization of a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser acknowledged that “it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely” that booster shots will be needed. The company said it was scheduled to have the meeting with the Food and Drug Administration and other officials Monday, days after Pfizer asserted that booster shots would be needed within 12 months. (Yen, 7/11)

The Washington Post: Pfizer Expected To Brief U.S. Officials In Coming Days On The Need For A Booster Shot
Pfizer is expected to brief top U.S. government health officials in the coming days about the need for a coronavirus vaccine booster shot after an unusually public spat between the pharmaceutical giant and federal officials over whether a third shot will be necessary, according to the company and six people familiar with the plans. Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech announced on Thursday that they planned to seek regulatory approval for a booster within weeks because they anticipated that people would need a third dose six to 12 months after receiving the companies’ two-shot regimen. (Abutaleb, Pager, McGinley and Sun, 7/10)

Axios: Fauci Says Pfizer CEO Apologized For Not Giving Warning On Booster Announcement 
Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla apologized to him for not giving health officials advance notice that the company would seek an authorization for a third dose of its coronavirus vaccine. After Pfizer's announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration published a joint statement saying Americans do not need boosters yet. (Doherty, 7/10)

Politico: Vaccines Will Get Full FDA Approval, Fauci Predicts
Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the FDA giving Covid vaccines full approval is “only a technical issue” and that the hundreds of millions of people across the world who have been vaccinated serve as evidence that “the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccines are very high.” As of July 4, about 157 million Americans were fully vaccinated, almost half of the population. Many people are hesitant or have decided to wait to be vaccinated until the vaccines shift from being labeled “emergency use authorization” to “fully approved.” Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” President Joe Biden's top medical adviser told host George Stephanopoulos, “There are certainly some people who when you use the terminology ‘emergency use authorization,’ they kind of think it's a tenuous data showing that it works so that it's safe. That's not the case.” (Greene, 7/11)

Stat: Experts: Full FDA Approval Of Covid Vaccines Is Not A Quick Fix
The Food and Drug Administration issuing full approval for two Covid-19 vaccines might not be the game-changer it’s chalked up to be, according to a number of leading public health experts. Increasingly, some leading academics and physicians have pushed back on the popular narrative that the FDA is needlessly delaying full approvals for the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus shots — and spurring vaccine hesitancy by doing so. While full approvals might encourage a handful of Americans to finally get vaccinated, they argue, it’s more important for the agency to make clear that the eventual approvals are motivated by science and not by public pressure. (Facher, 7/12)

NPR: Virus Cases Start To Rise Again, Especially Where Vaccination Rates Lag
As the weather warmed up this year, coronavirus case numbers plummeted, and life in the U.S. started to feel almost normal. But in recent weeks, that progress has stalled. The vaccination campaign has slowed, and the delta variant is spreading rapidly. And new infections, which had started to plateau about a month ago, are going up slightly nationally. New, localized hot spots are emerging, especially in stretches of the South, the Midwest and the West. And, according to an analysis NPR conducted with Johns Hopkins University, those surges are likely driven by pockets of dangerously low vaccination rates. (Stein, Wroth and Fast, 7/9)

CNN: 'Surprising Amount Of Deaths' Will Soon Occur In These US Regions From Increased Covid-19 Cases, Expert Says 
As the Delta variant rapidly spreads, US hotspots have seen climbing cases -- and an expert warns a "surprising amount" of Covid-19 deaths could soon follow. The US is averaging about 19,455 new cases over the last seven days, a 47% increase from the week prior, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And a third of those, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said, come from five hotspots: Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Nevada. (Holcombe, 7/12)

NPR: How We'll Know When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over
In the U.S., we're now averaging 154 deaths a day from COVID-19 — a tiny fraction compared to the pandemic's peak -- and there are still some safety measures and restrictions in place. Late pandemic American life hasn't quite returned to the status quo, but it feels much closer to normal than it did six months ago. But while we may long for authorities to give an all-clear and say the pandemic is history, the crisis isn't over, in the U.S. or abroad. The question of when the crisis will actually be over is a layered one — with different answers from a local, national and global perspective. (Wamsley, 7/10)

Stat: The Covid-19 Decline Preceded Vaccines. But We Need Jabs To Finish The Job
As coronavirus infections decline in the U.S., it seems appropriate to celebrate the triumph of vaccines over viruses. But how much of the credit do vaccines deserve? Less than you might expect. Don’t get me wrong: I believe in vaccines. I got vaccinated was soon as I was eligible and am 100% behind the goal of getting everyone on the planet vaccinated. Yet there are other factors also at work in quelling a pandemic. (Kaplan, 7/12)

On regional hot spots —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: ‘Do Not Assume It Is Over’: COVID-19 Rising Again In Missouri’s Metro Areas, Health Officials Say 
Less than a month after the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force ceased holding regular briefings, a rebound in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations has prompted the group to resume its weekly updates. The St. Louis region, which had maintained relatively stable case rates through much of the spring, has seen jumps in recent weeks. Health officials say the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus has a foothold, and more testing and vaccinations are needed to stop its spread. “The best time to get vaccinated was really yesterday or weeks ago. But a good time is today,” said Dr. Alex Garza, SSM Health chief community health officer and head of the task force over the past year. (Merrilees, 7/9)

The Tennessean: Southern Baptist Convention Sparks Small COVID-19 Cluster In Nashville
A small but worrisome coronavirus cluster has been linked to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Nashville, the first large-scale conference held in the city after it lifted restrictions on gatherings, according to the Metro Public Health Department. About eight to 10 infections have been detected among attendees since the event in mid-June, which is enough to be classified as an COVID-19 cluster, said Metro Health epidemiologist Leslie Waller. (Kelman and Meyer, 7/9)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: As Variants Spread, North County Church Created Its Own COVID Vaccine Gift Card Program 
The Rev. Dr. Ernest Shields Sr. looked around his community and knew something more needed to be done to get people vaccinated against COVID-19. Shields, pastor of Mount Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly Black church in Hanley Hills where he’s served for more than 45 years, gathered funds from his congregation this month to create their own vaccine incentive program. The first 100 congregants and members of the community to sign up would each get a $25 gift card. About 23 took the church up on the offer for their first dose and were able to return Sunday to get their second shot after services. The doses were administered through the St. Louis County Health Department’s neighborhood vaccination event program. (Heffernan, 7/11)

CNN: In Arkansas, Covid-19 Cases Surge As State Combats Vaccine Skepticism 
In Arkansas, the fight against both the deadly Covid-19 Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy starts one person at a time, meeting them where they are. Sometimes, that's at church. At St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Little Rock's Southwest side, Oscar Martinez was seizing his chance at a pop-up vaccine clinic in a gymnasium on Saturday afternoon, sponsored by the University of Arkansas of Medical Sciences (UAMS) and the Mexican Consulate -- a direct attempt to reach out to the area's Latino population. (Jorgensen and Sandoval, 7/11)

AP: Oklahoma Health Officials Urge Vaccinations Amid COVID Spike
Oklahoma health officials on Friday urged more residents to get vaccinated amid an alarming spike in new cases and hospitalizations for COVID-19, particularly in the northeastern part of the state. Oklahoma is seeing an uptick in cases with the emergence of the new delta variant, particularly in rural areas where there are lower rates of vaccinations, said Oklahoma Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye. He said those numbers will likely continue to increase following the Fourth of July holiday. (Murphy, 7/9)

The New York Times: The C.D.C. Issues New School Guidance, With Emphasis On Full Reopening
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged schools on Friday to fully reopen in the fall, even if they cannot take all of the steps the agency recommends to curb the spread of the coronavirus — a major turn in a public health crisis in which childhood education has long been a political flash point. The agency also said school districts should use local health data to guide decisions about when to tighten or relax prevention measures like masking and physical distancing. With the highly contagious Delta variant spreading and children under 12 still ineligible for vaccination, it recommended that unvaccinated students and staff members keep wearing masks. (Stolberg, Anthes, Mervosh and Taylor, 7/9)

AP: Vaccinated Teachers And Students Don't Need Masks, CDC Says
The changes come amid a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 are eligible to get shots, as well as a general decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. “We’re at a new point in the pandemic that we’re all really excited about,” and so it’s time to update the guidance, said Erin Sauber-Schatz, who leads the CDC task force that prepares recommendations designed to keep Americans safe from COVID-19. (Stobbe and Binkley, 7/9)

NBC News: Students Don't Need Masks At School If They Are Fully Vaccinated, CDC Says
The guidance, which goes beyond mask-wearing, is aimed at kindergartners through high school seniors, and is meant "to help keep kids in classrooms, as well as participating in any sports or extracurricular activities," said Erin Sauber-Schatz, who heads the CDC's Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force. (Edwards, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Schools Push To Get Students Vaccinated Before The Start Of Academic Year
With the start of school only weeks away in some parts of the country, schools, school districts and some teachers unions are pushing to get students vaccinated to ensure they are inoculated against the spread of Covid-19 when classes fully reopen in the fall. Sixty-three percent of public schools were open full-time, in-person for all students by May, while 2% offered remote learning exclusively, according to data released Thursday from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. (Campa, 7/12)

Axios: Most Of The U.S. Is Leaving Mask Policies Up To School Districts 
With about a month until back to school begins in many K-12 districts, most states in the U.S. have no uniform plan to require masks, even as public health guidance still strongly recommends them for the unvaccinated. Kids younger than 12 still haven't been eligible for vaccination and, without mitigation efforts like masking, the fall could bring an uptick in the spread of COVID. (Fernandez, 7/12)

Los Angeles Times: California To Require Masks At School As CDC Issues New Guidance
The new school year in California will start with students and teachers wearing masks, state officials announced Friday, staking out a cautious position on a day when new federal guidelines stressed the importance of fully reopening schools and recommended masks only for those who are not vaccinated. As part of a multilayered approach to limit the spread of COVID-19, those who are not vaccinated should wear masks indoors — and schools, health departments or states may continue to require masks on campus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (Shalby and Blume, 7/10)

The New York Times: What Parents Need To Know About The C.D.C.’s Covid School Guidelines
The agency also left much of the decision-making up to local officials, urging them to consider community transmission rates, vaccination coverage and other factors. This approach won praise from some experts, who said that this more nuanced approach makes sense at this stage of the pandemic — but criticism from others, who said that state and local officials were not equipped to make those judgments and needed clearer guidance. Here are answers to some common questions about the new guidance. (Anthes and Mervosh, 7/9)

North Carolina Health News: Parents Reflect On Mental Health In Pandemic Schooling 
At 8 a.m. sharp, Laura Farnan, a parent in Chapel Hill of one rising first-grader and one middle school student, is all set. She sits beside her younger boy to make sure his eyes are on the iPad in front of him where his teacher begins the morning classes. Across the table, Farnan is relieved to see her older daughter making progress on school assignments without much adult monitoring. This had been Farnan’s routine for much of the pandemic. (Huang, 7/12)

The New York Times: Scientists Press Case Against The Covid Lab Leak Theory
In the latest volley of the debate over the origins of the coronavirus, a group of scientists this week presented a review of scientific findings that they argue shows a natural spillover from animal to human is a far more likely cause of the pandemic than a laboratory incident. Among other things, the scientists point to a recent report showing that markets in Wuhan, China, had sold live animals susceptible to the virus, including palm civets and raccoon dogs, in the two years before the pandemic began. They observed the striking similarity that Covid-19’s emergence had to other viral diseases that arose through natural spillovers, and pointed to a variety of newly discovered viruses in animals that are closely related to the one that caused the new pandemic. (Zimmer and Gorman, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Bat Scientists Warn That The World May Never Know Covid-19 Origins
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists all over the world have been struggling to pin down the origin of the coronavirus that caused it. Linfa Wang knows they may never succeed. Dr. Wang, a professor in the emerging infectious diseases program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, is an expert in bat viruses. He has joined the hunt for the origin of Covid-19 even though he and fellow scientists are still searching for the precise source of a different coronavirus: the one that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. That virus emerged in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people world-wide. (Dockser Marcus, 7/11)

The New York Times: A Breathalyzer To Detect Covid-19? Scientists Are On It.
The SpiroNose, made by the Dutch company Breathomix, is just one of many breath-based Covid-19 tests under development across the world. In May, Singapore’s health agency granted provisional authorization to two such tests, made by the domestic companies Breathonix and Silver Factory Technology. And researchers at Ohio State University say they have applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an emergency authorization of their Covid-19 breathalyzer. (Anthes, 7/11)

Bloomberg: Woman Infected With Two Covid-19 Variants Highlights Next Risk 
A 90-year-old woman died after becoming infected with two different strains of Covid-19, revealing another risk in the fight against the disease, Belgian researchers found. In the first peer-reviewed analysis of an infection with multiple strains, scientists found the woman had contracted both the alpha variant, which first surfaced in the U.K., and the beta strain, first found in South Africa. The infections probably came from separate people, according to a report published Saturday and presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. (Ring, 7/10)

The New York Times: The Rationing Of A Last-Resort Covid Treatment
Throughout the pandemic, such scenes have played out across the country as American doctors found themselves in the unfamiliar position of overtly rationing a treatment. But it was not ventilators, as initially feared: Concerted action largely headed off those shortages. Instead, it was the limited availability of ECMO — which requires expensive equipment similar in concept to a heart-lung machine and specially trained staff who can provide constant monitoring and one-on-one nursing — that forced stark choices among patients. Doctors tried to select individuals most likely to benefit. But dozens of interviews with medical staff and patients across the country, and reporting inside five hospitals that provide ECMO, revealed that in the absence of regional sharing systems to ensure fairness and match resources to needs, hospitals and clinicians were left to apply differing criteria, with insurance coverage, geography and even personal appeals having an influence. (Fink, 7/12)

KHN: Government Oversight Of Covid Air Cleaners Leaves Gaping Holes
The sting is a rare example of enforcement in an arena where money is gushing like a geyser but oversight is nearly nonexistent. Electronic air cleaners, heavily marketed to gyms, doctors’ offices and hospitals, companies and schools awash in federal covid relief funds, tend to use high-voltage charges to alter molecules in the air. The companies selling the devices say they can destroy pathogens and clean the air. But academic air quality experts say the technology can be ineffective or potentially create harmful byproducts. Companies that make the devices are subject to virtually no standardized testing or evaluation of their marketing claims. A KHN investigation this spring found that over 2,000 schools across the country have bought such technology. (Weber and Jewett, 7/12)

CNN: You Asked, We’re Answering: Your Top Questions About Covid-19 And Vaccines
CNN readers from around the world have asked more than 150,000 questions (and counting) about coronavirus. We’re reading as many as we can and answering some of the most popular questions here. (Yan, 7/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Competition Order Targets Hospital Mergers, Surprise Medical Bills
The White House call for revised enforcement guidelines to promote hospital competition will likely amplify federal scrutiny of hospital mergers, which health economists say have raised prices. The Biden administration order, released Friday, encouraged the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to review and possibly revise their merger guidelines. It highlighted hospital consolidation, which the order said has harmed consumers. (Evans, 7/10)

The Washington Post: Biden Calls For Efforts To Lower Drug Prices As Part Of Executive Order To Foster Competition
The president’s directive also urges the Federal Trade Commission to promote the availability of generic drugs by banning pharmaceutical manufacturers from paying their generic counterparts to delay entry of lower-price versions of medications into the market. Such a ban is consistent with Biden’s support during his campaign for increasing the supply of generics. The idea is also part of legislation before the Senate. (Goldstein, 7/9)

Roll Call: Biden Orders Agencies To Look At Drug Costs, Hospital Consolidation
“What we’ve seen over the past few decades is less competition and more concentration that holds our economy back. We see it in big agriculture and big tech and big pharma and the list goes on,” Biden said before signing the executive order at the White House Friday. “Take prescription drugs: just a handful of companies control the market for many vital medicines, giving them leverage over everyone else to charge whatever they want,” the president said. (Clason and Lesniewski, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Prices Are One Focus Of Biden’s Push To Boost Competition
President Biden’s executive order to promote business competition lays out a series of steps to lower prices for prescription drugs, including taking legal action against companies that cooperate to keep generic medicines off the market and allowing states and Indian tribes to import drugs from Canada. The administration also is calling for measures to increase the use of generic drugs and other medicines known as biosimilars, which are essentially generic versions of expensive biological drugs already on the market. (Burton, 7/9)

AP: FDA Head Calls For Inquiry Into Alzheimer's Drug Review
The acting head of the Food and Drug Administration on Friday called for a government investigation into highly unusual contacts between her agency’s drug reviewers and the maker of a controversial new Alzheimer’s drug. Dr. Janet Woodcock announced the extraordinary step via Twitter. It’s the latest fallout over last month’s approval of Aduhelm, an expensive and unproven therapy that the agency OK’d against the advice of its own outside experts. (Perrone, 7/9)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Seeks Investigation Of Its Own Alzheimer’s Drug Approval
In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’ independent Office of the Inspector General, the F.D.A.’s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, acknowledged the scrutiny the agency has faced about the approval process for the drug, which is known as Aduhelm and has a $56,000 annual price tag. She pointed to interactions between representatives from the drug’s developer, Biogen, and the agency, saying some “may have occurred outside of the formal correspondence process.” “To the extent these concerns could undermine the public’s confidence in F.D.A.’s decision, I believe it is critical that the events at issue be reviewed by an independent body,” Dr. Woodcock wrote. She noted that the review should look at whether any of the communication between the agency’s staff and Biogen’s representatives violated F.D.A. rules. (Robbins, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Seeks To Probe Talks Between Staff And Biogen On Alzheimer’s Drug
The drug’s approval has been highly controversial, partly because of its annual price pegged at $56,000, and partly because evidence of the drug’s effectiveness was inconclusive. During the time when the agency was considering the drug, called Aduhelm, FDA reviewers met with the company, Biogen Inc., that makes the drug. They collaborated with the company to prepare a joint review document presented to an FDA panel of outside advisers at a public meeting in 2020. The watchdog group Public Citizen called in December for an inspector general investigation “to scrutinize the unprecedented close collaboration.” (Burton, 7/9)

The Washington Post: The Controversial Approval Of An Alzheimer’s Drug Reignites The Battle Over The Underlying Cause Of The Disease
Neurologist Matthew S. Schrag was surprised when he heard the Food and Drug Administration had approved a controversial Alzheimer’s drug. There was scant evidence the treatment worked, in his view. Even more concerning to Schrag: the FDA’s apparent embrace of a long-debated theory about Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicts more than 6 million Americans. The amyloid hypothesis, which has dominated the field for decades, holds that toxic clumps in the brain, called amyloid beta, are the main driver of the disease and that removing them will slow cognitive decline. (McGinley, 7/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Biogen Alzheimer’s Drug Will Exceed The $56,000 List Price For Many, Analysis Says
Biogen Inc.’s new $56,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug could wind up costing thousands of dollars more per patient than the company has said because of quirks in the way the therapy and others like it are packaged and paid for. Medicare and other insurers could wind up paying $61,000 to $62,000 a patient on average depending on the dosages each needs, according to an analysis published online Friday by the journal Health Affairs. (Walker, 7/9)

AP: US Stops Jailing Pregnant Migrants, Reversing Trump Policy
U.S. immigration authorities will no longer routinely jail migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth, reversing a Trump-era immigration policy. The new directive, announced Friday, does not bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from initiating proceedings to deport women who are pregnant, nursing or have given birth within the past year. But they generally would no longer be detained pending the outcome of their cases except under “exceptional circumstances,” the agency said. (Fox, 7/9)

The Hill: Biden Urged To Harden Government For Future Pandemics
Public health experts are urging the Biden administration to harden the federal government for future crises, warning that the U.S. is not prepared for the next pandemic. The White House says it is laser-focused on bolstering the government’s ability to respond to another coronavirus-like outbreak. But doing so will require ample funding from Congress to help agencies react as quickly and effectively as possible to prevent a loss of life similar to COVID-19, which has killed more than 4 million people globally and more than 600,000 Americans. (Chalfant and Weixel, 7/10)

The New York Times: Hidden Costs And Flawed Training Plague The V.A.’s Huge Software Upgrade
The Department of Veterans Affairs is in the process of overhauling the country’s oldest electronic health record system at the country’s largest hospital network. Even if it goes smoothly, planners have repeatedly warned, it will be an extremely complicated task that will take 10 years and cost more than $16 billion. And so far, it is going anything but smoothly. The new health record software is supposed to increase efficiency and speed up care in the beleaguered veterans’ health system, which serves more than nine million veterans. But when the department put it into use for the first time in October at a V.A. medical center in Washington State, it did the opposite. (Philipps, 7/9)

The New York Times: E.P.A. Approved Toxic Chemicals For Fracking A Decade Ago, New Files Show
For much of the past decade, oil companies engaged in drilling and fracking have been allowed to pump into the ground chemicals that, over time, can break down into toxic substances known as PFAS — a class of long-lasting compounds known to pose a threat to people and wildlife — according to internal documents from the Environmental Protection Agency. The E.P.A. in 2011 approved the use of these chemicals, used to ease the flow of oil from the ground, despite the agency’s own grave concerns about their toxicity, according to the documents, which were reviewed by The New York Times. The E.P.A.’s approval of the three chemicals wasn’t previously publicly known. (Tabuchi, 7/12)

NPR: States' Abortion Restrictions Reach A Record In 2021
More abortion restrictions have been enacted across the U.S. this year than in any previous year, according to an analysis by a group that supports abortion rights. State legislatures have passed at least 90 laws restricting the procedure in 2021 so far, finds a report released this month from the Guttmacher Institute. "We're really trying to bring attention to the fact that state legislatures are moving very quickly on abortion bans and restrictions," Elizabeth Nash, a co-author of the report and principal policy associate at the institute, told NPR. "Abortion rights are at stake." (Bowman, 7/9)

Bloomberg Law: Democrats Aim To End Abortion Restrictions, Bolster Health Funds
Bans on federal funds for abortion would be lifted and family planning grants to Planned Parenthood would be restored under a House spending bill released Sunday. (Ruoff, 7/11)

The New York Times: Citizens, Not The State, Will Enforce New Abortion Law In Texas
The provision passed the State Legislature this spring as part of a bill that bans abortion after a doctor detects a fetal heartbeat, usually at about six weeks of pregnancy. Many states have passed such bans, but the law in Texas is different. Ordinarily, enforcement would be up to government officials, and if clinics wanted to challenge the law’s constitutionality, they would sue those officials in making their case. But the law in Texas prohibits officials from enforcing it. Instead, it takes the opposite approach, effectively deputizing ordinary citizens — including from outside Texas — to sue clinics and others who violate the law. It awards them at least $10,000 per illegal abortion if they are successful. (Tavernise, 7/9)

Texas Public Radio: Abortion Pill Controversy Rages On In Texas, US
Medication abortion continues to play a major role as the decades-long battle over reproductive rights rages on in the U.S. During the special legislative session that began July 8, Texas lawmakers will reconsider a bill that would ban the provision of abortion medication by mail or delivery service, and ban pill-induced abortions after 7 weeks into the pregnancy. (7/11)

AP: State Reports Slight Increase In Indiana Abortions For 2020
The number of abortions performed in Indiana grew slightly last year, with a new state report showing that drug-induced abortions made up a majority of the procedures for the first time. The annual report from the state health department shows that the number of abortions in Indiana grew by 119, or 1.6%, to 7,756 during 2020. That increased number remained below the some 8,000 performed in 2018, Indiana’s highest number since 2014. (7/10)

KHN: Biden Is Caught In The Middle Of Polarizing Abortion Politics
It took five months for the Biden administration to make a substantive policy change to advance abortion rights. And even that change was buried in a 61-page regulation setting rules for 2022’s Affordable Care Act enrollment. ... But the new administration’s effort also highlights the frustrations abortion-rights advocates have with the slow pace of change from a president they strongly supported — and who courted their votes. “Biden will work to codify Roe v. Wade, and his Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate Roe v. Wade,” said his campaign platform. (Rovner, 7/12)

Politico: Plugging Obamacare’s Biggest Hole Poses Dilemma For Democrats 
Democratic lawmakers are grappling with how to extend health insurance to millions of poor Americans in states that have refused Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, believing their upcoming party-line “human infrastructure” package represents the best chance to plug the health law’s biggest gap. After months of behind-the-scenes discussions, Democrats are coalescing around three options for closing the coverage gap in the Medicaid expansion holdout states, according to nine sources on and off the Hill. These approaches, which would leverage the existing Obamacare insurance marketplaces or require the Biden administration to create a new coverage program, each carry risks. And lawmakers still don’t see a clear path forward as they face a narrowing window to assemble a massive package of Democratic priorities. (Roubein and Miranda Ollstein, 7/10)

Bloomberg Law: Supreme Court Leaves Fight Over Medicaid Work Rules In Limbo
Chief Justice John Roberts closed the latest Supreme Court term earlier this month with the fight over work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries unresolved. Trump administration approvals of programs in Arkansas and New Hampshire requiring all Medicaid beneficiaries to work or participate in job-skills training to remain eligible for the health-care coverage sparked the dispute. The justices put the case on hold in April after the Biden administration announced the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was withdrawing the prior administration’s approvals. The case is now on life support and likely won’t be fully put to bed until early next term, some health law scholars say. The delay gives Arkansas time to pursue its administrative appeal of the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw the prior approval even though it’s unlikely the state will prevail. (Wheeler, 7/12)

From state Medicaid programs —

AP: Georgia Pushes Back On Reevaluation Of Health Plan
The Biden administration’s decision to reevaluate Georgia’s plan to overhaul how state residents buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act came as a “surprise” and suggests it wants to revisit the plan’s approval, which is not allowed, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said. Georgia’s plan — dubbed “Georgia Access” — would improve the experience of shopping for insurance and encourage the private sector to enroll uninsured Georgia residents, the director of Kemp’s Office of Health Strategy and Coordination said in a letter to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Thanawala, 7/10)

Springfield News-Leader: Missouri Health Care, Business Groups Weigh In On Medicaid Expansion
As the Missouri Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the future of Medicaid in the state next week, groups are declaring their support for or opposition to its expansion. Health organizations, providers and business groups from around the state, as well as the House of Representatives, have submitted amicus briefs, or documents expressing their interest and support in the case. The high court will hear arguments on July 13. (Bacharier, 7/10)

Dayton Daily News: Ohio To Expand Medicaid Coverage For New Moms
Ohio plans to let more women be eligible for Medicaid for a year after giving birth, which advocates hope will lead to more new moms getting the care they need. When the American Rescue Plan passed, it included federal support for states that expand eligibility for Medicaid coverage for women until a baby’s first birthday. The newly based state budget calls for Ohio Medicaid to take up this offer, as long as the federal government signs off. (Schroeder, 7/10)

AP: Testimony Nears End In WVa Suit Against Opioid Distributors
A landmark civil trial could be winding down in West Virginia against three large opioid distributors accused of fueling a local opioid crisis, as attorneys for the defendants indicated they expect to wrap up their case one month ahead of schedule. While the federal bench trial in the lawsuit filed by Cabell County and the city of Huntington against distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. had been scheduled to last through mid-August, company attorneys said Thursday they expect to finish questioning witnesses next week, The Herald-Dispatch reported. (7/9)

Georgia Health News: ‘Perfect Storm’: An Opioid Menace Like Never Before 
There’s no real profile for the victims. They don’t appear to fit into any particular economic, racial or ethnic grouping. The rising numbers of opioid overdoses “seem to hit everyone,’’ says Dr. Dan McCollum, an emergency medicine physician at Augusta University Medical Center. “It hits all economic strata.’’ Even age is no longer the factor it used to be. Overdose patients coming into ERs are increasingly middle-aged and older, as compared to youthful drug users in past decades, he said Friday. (Miller, 7/9)

The Parkersburg News And Sentinel: Parkersburg Officials Propose Moratorium On Drug Treatment Facilities
No new residential drug treatment facilities would be permitted in the city for nearly a year under an ordinance before Parkersburg City Council on Tuesday. Scheduled for first reading at the 7:30 p.m. regular meeting, the ordinance imposes a moratorium on the establishment of group residential facilities or group residential homes through June 30. “We just need to put a finger in the dike, so to speak,” Mayor Tom Joyce said. Joyce said he’s not against rehab facilities, but the ordinance says approximately 19 percent of licensed substance abuse treatment beds in West Virginia are within the city limits of Parkersburg. However, the city accounts for less than 2 percent of the state’s population. (Bevins, 7/9)

The New York Times: Alcohol Abuse Is On The Rise. Here's Why Doctors Fail To Treat It.
Last month, a nationwide study by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that about 80 percent of people who met the criteria for alcohol use disorder had visited a doctor, hospital or medical clinic for a variety of reasons in the previous year. Roughly 70 percent of those people were asked about their alcohol intake. Yet just one in 10 were encouraged to cut back on their drinking by a health professional, and only 6 percent received any form of treatment. (O'Connor, 7/12)

AP: Appeals Court Upholds Rationing Of Hepatitis C Treatment
The Kentucky Department of Corrections can deny a life-saving but expensive hepatitis C medication to inmates, a federal appeals court ruled in a split decision. The dissenting judge in last week’s 2-1 ruling at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the majority’s opinion will condemn hundreds of prisoners to long-term organ damage and suffering, The Courier-Journal reported. (7/10)

Fox News: Globalization Hits Home: Mylan Pharmaceuticals And The Mountain State
Two weeks before Christmas Day in 2020, nearly 1,500 workers at the Viatris facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, formerly known as Mylan, were met with devastating news. The company had decided to shut down operations at the 56-year-old pharmaceutical plant. The workers’ jobs would be sent overseas to India and Australia. (Jilani and Wall, 7/11)

Stat: Gene Therapy Trial Points To A Wider Window To Alter Course Of Rare Disease
The suspicion that something was wrong started when the 1-year-old girl’s parents noticed she had trouble holding up her head. It was just the first of what would be many missed developmental milestones. By the time she was 8, the little girl still couldn’t sit up on her own, hold a toy, or say hello. (Molteni, 7/12)

The New York Times: How Much Longer Can Martin Shkreli Control A Pharma Firm From Prison?
For years, Kevin Mulleady was an ally of Martin Shkreli. He worked for one of the pharmaceutical executive’s hedge funds and later served as an executive at the company where Mr. Shkreli infamously raised a lifesaving drug’s price 5,000 percent. Now, Mr. Mulleady is teaming up with activist investors to persuade his fellow shareholders to give them control of that drugmaker’s parent company, Phoenixus. (Phoenixus’ operating subsidiary, once known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, is now called Vyera.) There, he says, Mr. Shkreli still maintains control despite being in prison for securities fraud and not up for release until late 2023. (de la Merced, 7/9)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore County’s Crisis Teams Can’t Respond To More Than Half Of Calls For People In Distress, Leaving Job To Patrol Officers 
Understaffed and overworked, police and clinicians on Baltimore County’s mobile crisis teams fail to respond to more than half of calls to help people suffering mental health crises. A one-year pilot program aims to bolster the teams by adding more behavioral health professionals and setting up a system that will redirect some 911 calls from police to behavioral health resources. (Deville, 7/8)

The Charlotte Observer: Here’s What Next Mecklenburg Health Leader Says On COVID-19 
Mecklenburg Deputy Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington moved to Charlotte just two days before the county declared a local state of emergency in March of 2020. He quickly became one of the top faces of the county’s efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Now 17 months later, Washington has been tapped to take on the top health department job. He’ll be Mecklenburg’s first Black health director. (Smoot, 7/9)

Health News Florida: Will Federal Speech Rulings Embolden Health Workers To Call Out Safety Issues? 
Karen Jo Young wrote a letter to her local newspaper criticizing executives at the hospital where she worked as an activities coordinator, arguing that their actions led to staffing shortages and other patient safety problems. Hours after her letter was published in September 2017, officials at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Maine, fired her, citing a policy that no employee may give information to the news media without the direct involvement of the media office. (Meyer, 7/9)

More health industry news and innovations —

Los Angeles Times: Hospitals And Newsom Seek Delay For Earthquake Upgrades
One hour after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck Northern California on Thursday, the California Hospital Assn. tweeted that it’s “time to update seismic standards — to focus on all the services people need after a disaster of any kind.” But the association’s tweet omitted that its proposal circulating in the state Capitol would actually weaken existing standards, giving hospitals another seven years — until 2037 — to ensure that their buildings remain operable after the Big One and limiting the required upgrades to buildings that support emergency services. (Luna and Gutierrez, 7/10)

Modern Healthcare: Big-Name Hospitals Have Biggest Community Spending Shortfalls
Cleveland Clinic, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, UCSF Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital received tax exemptions worth almost $900 million more than the not-for-profit hospitals spent providing community benefits in 2018, a new report found. All told, 72% of the roughly 2,400 not-for-profit hospitals in the analysis had a "fair share deficit" that year, meaning they spent less on free or discounted care and community investment than the value of their tax breaks, according to report released Monday by the Lown Institute. (Bannow, 7/12)

Stat: Johns Hopkins Startup Aims To Shake Up AI With A Research-First Approach
The formula for launching a machine learning company in health care looks something like this: Build a model, test it on historical patient data in a computer lab, and then start selling it to hospitals nationwide. Suchi Saria, director of the machine learning and health care lab at Johns Hopkins University, is taking a different approach. Her company, Bayesian Health, is coming out of stealth mode on Monday by publishing a prospective study on how one of its lead products — an early warning system for sepsis — impacted the care of current patients in real hospitals. (Ross, 7/12)

WFSU: AARP Wants Financial Help For Millions Of Caregivers In Florida 
An estimated 48 million people in the U.S. are providing in-home care to an adult loved one, with 3 million of those caregivers in Florida. AARP says a new study demonstrates the need to support family caregivers with financial assistance. AARP is a membership group that lobbies for those over age 50. The group is touting the proposed Credit for Caring Act in Congress, which would provide a tax credit up to $5,000 for eligible caregivers. (Jordan, 7/11)

Crain's Chicago Business: Nursing Homes Struggle Financially In Wake Of COVID-19
The nursing home business, already rocked by a disproportionate share of the past year and a half's COVID-19 cases, is bracing for yet another pandemic-induced shake-up. Many nursing home operators are struggling to stay afloat in the face of high vacancy rates, rising costs, staff shortages and the threat of coronavirus-related lawsuits. The financial toll threatens to drive some companies under, push others out of the elder care industry and pave the way for deeper-pocketed systems to snap up struggling rivals. (Goldberg, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Philip Morris Buys Inhaled-Medicine Company For $1.2 Billion Amid Health Push
Philip Morris International Inc. agreed to buy Vectura Group, a U.K. pharmaceuticals business specializing in inhaled medicines, for $1.24 billion in cash, bolstering its push to expand beyond tobacco and nicotine. Philip Morris International, which is listed in New York but sells the Marlboro brand outside the U.S., on Friday said that Vectura will be the backbone of a business built around inhaled therapeutics. Inhalers used by asthma sufferers, for instance, are common for the treatment of respiratory illness, but have shown promise in the delivery of other medicines. (Calatayud, 7/9)

AP: Red Tide May Cause Respiratory Issues On Florida Gulf Coast
Red tide could cause people along certain parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast to to experience respiratory irritation, health officials said. The Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County on Sunday recommended that anyone with chronic respiratory problems consider staying away from areas experiencing red tide, the Tampa Bay Times reported. They also advise people not to swim around dead fish, and to keep pets away from water, sea foam and dead marine life. (7/10)

Health News Florida: Tampa Bay Becomes Red Tide Epicenter. Pinellas Respiratory Warnings Follow
Tampa Bay has become the state's epicenter of red tide, and Pinellas County health officials have issued recommendations to people with respiratory issues to avoid areas experiencing the blooms. Respiratory irritation related to red tide also was reported over the past week in Pinellas and Sarasota counties. (7/11)

The Oregonian: Will Pledged Reviews Of Deadly Heat Wave Response Prevent Deaths Next Time? 
Oregon and Multnomah County officials have pledged to undertake comprehensive reviews of their response to the unprecedented June heat wave suspected of claiming 115 lives in hopes of beefing up their emergency response and avoiding a similar outcome the next time around. Gov. Kate Brown’s office said Friday that she had directed the Office of Emergency Management to complete an expedited review involving multiple state agencies by the end of the month. Meanwhile, officials from Multnomah County, where the vast majority of the fatalities took place, said they would be conducting detailed death investigations that would inform a “deep review” by all departments to more effectively target resources in future events. (Sickinger, 7/11)

The Washington Post: Death Valley Closes In On 130 Degrees Amid Dangerous Heat Wave
Saturday’s forecast of 132 degrees would have been among the highest temps recorded on Earth. It did not quite materialize, but dozens of “heat tourists” celebrated anyway. (Werner, 7/11)

ABC News: How Will The West Solve A Water Crisis If Climate Change Continues To Get Worse?
Imagine a world where water is scarce in the West -- or at least stretches of the increasingly hot and dry landscape. A decades-long megadrought spurred by climate change, which has led to alarmingly low reservoir levels in the region, nearing or at records in some cases, add urgency to considering this consideration. (Jacobo, 7/12)

AP: Biden To Talk Crime With City, Police Leaders Nationwide
President Joe Biden will host New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate and other city and law enforcement leaders from around the country to talk about reducing crime. Eric Adams, Brooklyn borough president and the likely next mayor of New York, plus Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and San Jose, California, Mayor Sam Liccardo are expected to attend the meeting Monday, according to two people familiar with the plans. They were not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. (Lemire, 7/11)

The Washington Post: Pandemic, Police Violence, Calls To ‘Defund The Police’ Fuel A Surge Of First-Time Gun Buyers
In blue cities and red suburbs alike, firearms purchases soared last year — to the highest level in half a century, based on federal background checks. A striking portion of those sales went to first-time gun buyers — 40 percent, according to the firearms industry’s trade association. Other studies show first-timers accounting for more like a fifth of sales in 2020, but that’s still unusually high, retailers said. ... From the downtown streets left empty by the pandemic’s shutdowns to the sharp spike in homicides and the nationwide conflict over the role and behavior of police officers, a disorienting and often frightening year drove many decisions to buy guns, according to dealers and buyers alike. (Fisher, Green, Glass and Eger, 7/10)

AP: Grief Counselors In Short Supply With Gun Violence Rising
Crime has been spiking nationwide after it plummeted in the early months of the pandemic, with many cities seeing the type of double-digit increase in gun violence that is plaguing Philadelphia. The Biden administration has sent strike forces to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to help take down gun networks. Biden has encouraged states to use COVID-19 relief money to hire police or additional counselors. Philadelphia is one of 15 cities nationwide joining a federal effort to expand and enhance community violence interruption programs. (Lauer, 7/11)

NBC News: High Potency Weed Linked To Psychotic Episodes, Mysterious Vomiting Illness In Young Users
Doctors warn of the soaring potency of marijuana and risks it may pose for young users – from psychiatric issues to the mysterious illness called scromiting. (Stickler and Patterson, 7/11)

NBC News: RSV Is Spreading In Summer, CDC Warns, Worrying Parents And Doctors
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, doctors are now warning about another respiratory disease spreading among infants and young children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory last month that respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is unexpectedly spreading in Southern states. RSV, which usually spikes during winter, can cause severe illness in kids and older adults and kills up to 500 children under age 5 each year. (Bauer, 7/9)

The New York Times: How Black Women Can Interpret Those Scary Health Statistics
Over the last 18 months, Americans received regular reminders of their own mortality, thanks to daily reporting of Covid-19 numbers. But for Black women, the dull roar of alarming health data was relentless even before Covid-19 and only grew during the pandemic. As a Black woman myself, I found health data to be frightening, especially this past year as I became pregnant and gave birth. While the data and reporting is important for policymaking, it can be detrimental to your mental health when it becomes a stream of terrifying headlines about your community or people who look like you. (Kerubo, 7/12)

The New York Times: ‘You Just Feel Like Nothing’: California To Pay Sterilization Victims
Leonard Bisel was 15 when the state of California decided that he should not have children, threatening to lock him up and force him to do hard labor if he did not submit to sterilization. In the middle of his operation, recalled Mr. Bisel, now 88, he woke up. “It was really painful,” he said, “and the doctor told me to shut up.” Under the influence of a movement known as eugenics, whose supporters believed that those with physical disabilities, psychiatric disorders and other conditions were “genetically defective,” more than 60,000 people across the United States were forcibly sterilized by state-run programs throughout the 20th century. (Morris, 7/11)

NPR: Clean Skincare: The Label Worth Billions Of Dollars 
Ivy Diec has used enough skincare products to know which ingredients irritate her skin. Good: centella asiatica and other botanical ingredients. Bad: alcohol and fragrance. When her skin reacted poorly to a new brand of witch hazel, she was confused. The product was marketed as "clean" — free of parabens, phthalates and other harmful ingredients — and witch hazel itself is a natural extract. "Clean" and plant-based products were supposed to be good for her skin. That's what the beauty industry was telling her, anyway. So why was her skin so inflamed? And what does clean really mean in the first place? (Sicurella, 7/12)

Politico: Britney Spurs Congress To Tackle Toxic Conservatorships
The Free Britney movement has a new fan base on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers with wildly different ideologies work to help a cause once dismissed as niche. The unusual groundswell began after an appeal in open court last month by 39-year-old pop star Britney Spears, who's fought to exit a legal guardianship she says has prevented her from driving with her boyfriend and forced her to stay on birth control. From Elizabeth Warren to Ted Cruz, prominent politicians are vowing to respond to Spears’ case and reviving a push for more oversight of guardianships that began a decade before her first album. (Levine, Beavers and Colliver, 7/12)

AP: Bonus Pay For Essential Workers Varied Widely Across States
Over the past year, about one-third of U.S. states have used federal COVID-19 relief aid to reward workers considered essential who dutifully reported to jobs during the pandemic. But who qualified for those bonuses -- and how much they received — varied widely, according to an Associated Press review. While some were paid thousands of dollars, others with similar jobs elsewhere received nothing. (Lieb, 7/10)

NBC News: With Federal Eviction Moratorium Set To Expire, States Offer Patchwork Protections
Beyond the everyday poverty fight, and looming eviction crisis, is a complex problem of government money aimed at preventing evictions from getting into the hands of people who most need it. The digital divide, a thicket of paperwork required to qualify for aid and a hodgepodge of state programs have translated into too little money in too few pockets of people facing eviction, experts told NBC News. (Clark, 7/12)

AP: WVa Rural Surgery Residency Program Gets Planning Grant
The planning and development of West Virginia’s first rural surgery residency program now has the help of a $750,000 federal grant. Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine received the three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the university said in a news release. (7/12)

Los Angeles Times: Illegal Pot Farms Have Invaded The California Desert
Before his corpse was dumped in a shallow grave 50 miles north of Los Angeles, Mauricio Ismael Gonzalez-Ramirez was held prisoner at one of the hundreds of black-market pot farms that have exploded across California’s high desert in the last several years, authorities say. He worked in what has become California’s newest illegal marijuana haven: the Mojave Desert. A world away from the lush forest groves of the “Emerald Triangle” of Northern California, this hot, dry, unforgiving climate has attracted more than a thousand marijuana plantations that fill the arid expanse between the Antelope Valley and the Colorado River. (Cosgrove and Shagun, 7/11)

Reuters: Lack Of COVID Awareness At Euro Final 'Devastating' - WHO
A WHO epidemiologist said she had been devastated to watch unmasked crowds singing and shouting at the Euro 2020 soccer final in London on Sunday, expressing concerns that it would spur COVID-19 transmission, including of the Delta variant. (Farge, 7/12)

CNN: What The Delta Variant's Trajectory In Israel And The UK Could Mean For The US 
All eyes are on the Delta variant that is now dominant in the United States as new Covid-19 cases rise week-to-week and the variant -- first identified in India and also known as B.1.617.2 -- accounts for a growing share. But trends from Israel and the United Kingdom -- where the variant became dominant a few weeks sooner than in the US -- present hope for a less deadly and severe surge than others that have come before. And experts say that vaccination progress will be the most critical factor in preventing the worst outcomes. (McPhillips, 7/11)

Bloomberg: G-20 Warns On Variants As Global Outbreak Worsens: Virus Update
New variants of the coronavirus and an uneven pace of vaccination could undermine a brightening outlook for the world economy, according to a communique agreed to on Saturday by Group of 20 finance ministers. U.S. cases remain elevated, after the delta variant was declared the nation’s dominant strain, spreading particularly in areas with low vaccination rates. New cases in Los Angeles County doubled this week. (7/9)

Politico: England ‘Tantalizingly Close’ To Easing Lockdown Curbs, Says Boris Johnson
England is "tantalizingly close" to easing the majority of its lockdown restrictions in a week's time, Boris Johnson said ahead of a press conference Monday at which he is expected to set out the government's latest thinking. The U.K. prime minister — who is aiming for the end of most coronavirus curbs in England on July 19 — said in a statement released before the press conference that caution on the part of the public remained "absolutely vital" as the country braces for a rise in cases. (Honeycombe-Foster, 7/11)

Bloomberg: Johnson To Warn U.K. As Delta Gains In Asia, U.S.: Virus Update
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will today warn people to stay vigilant as he prepares to lift virtually all remaining curbs in England, while French President Emmanuel Macron will also address the nation today amid a surge in infections. Authorities toughened social-distancing rules in Bangkok, Seoul, and parts of Vietnam as the fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus continues to make gains. Tokyo entered its fourth state of emergency and Sydney had a 45% spike in daily cases. (7/11)

CNBC: England Expected To Confirm Lockdown Lifting Despite Fears Over Delta Surge
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to confirm on Monday that the final easing of lockdown rules in England will go ahead of July 19. The move comes despite a continuing surge in coronavirus cases caused by the more infectious delta variant; over 31,000 new cases were reported in the U.K. on Sunday. (Ellyatt, 7/12)

Axios: Tokyo Reports Highest Number Of New COVID-19 Cases In Two Months 
Tokyo reported a total of 950 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest daily number since May 7. The world is closely watching Japan's case count, as the summer Olympics are due to begin in Tokyo on July 23. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo following a surge in cases, which will begin on Monday until August 22. Restaurants and bars will be required to suspend alcohol sales during that time. (Gonzalez, 7/10)

AP: Explainer: How Will The Virus Emergency Affect The Olympics?
A virus state of emergency began Monday in Japan’s capital, as the number of new cases is climbing fast and hospital beds are starting to fill just 11 days ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Here’s a look at the state of emergency and how it will affect the Olympics. (Yamaguchi, 7/12)

The New York Times: Asia Grapples With Delta-Driven Outbreaks
In recent days, Indonesia has reported nearly twice as many coronavirus cases as the United States. Malaysia’s per capita caseload is roughly on par with those of Brazil and Iran. And the latest Covid surges in Japan and South Korea have prompted harsh new restrictions on movement there, effective Monday. Across the Asia-Pacific region, the Delta variant is driving new outbreaks in places where transmission was once kept relatively low, but where the pace of vaccination has been too slow to contain the latest outbreaks. One result is that everyday activities are again being restricted, just as they were in the anxious, early days of the pandemic — even as the West edges back to normalcy. (Ives, 7/11)

CNBC: Singapore's Tharman Shanmugaratnam On The Next Pandemic After Covid
The next global pandemic could happen at any time and the world must start preparing for it now, said Singapore’s Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting for Covid to be over before we start preparing for the next pandemic, because the next pandemic can come any time,” Tharman told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach at the G-20 summit in Italy. (Lee, 7/12)

Axios: Long-Standing Corruption Cripples Vaccine Campaigns In Latin America 
Long-standing corruption in Latin America has hindered vaccination campaigns and health care responses. These scandals include inflated prices for unusable ventilators purchased by Bolivia, price gouging for N95 masks in Argentina, and a botched acquisition of emergency field hospitals that took over six months to be operational in Honduras. (Franco, 7/10)

Axios: Australia Reports First COVID Death Of 2021 Amid Growing Cases 
Australian officials on Sunday announced the country's first COVID-related death this year, and a record 77 new daily cases of the virus in New South Wales, Reuters reports. Australia has generally fared better in controlling the virus than many developed countries. But it's had a harder time combating the highly-infectious Delta variant, amid a slow vaccine rollout, Reuters writes. (Allassan, 7/11)

AP: U.S. Donates 500,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses To Moldova
Moldova is set to receive half a million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the United States to help the small nation combat the coronavirus pandemic. The first 150,000 doses of J&J are to arrive in Moldova — a country of 3.5 million, Europe’s poorest sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine — on July 12, the U.S. Embassy officials in Moldova said. (McGrath, 7/10)

USA Today: Our Biden Campaign Work Showed Us How To Reach Gen Z On COVID Vaccines
Despite efforts by the Biden administration to get as many Americans as possible vaccinated against Covid-19, one group in particular is standing in the way: young adults, the members of Gen Z. While more than half the country has had at least one dose of a vaccine and nearly half are fully vaccinated, only a third of adults ages 18 to 39 have received a vaccine. Those 18 to 24 are least likely to be vaccinated, and most likely to say they’re unsure about getting one, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. This reluctance has prevented the White House from achieving its most recent vaccination goals. (Adrian Montgomery, 7/12)

CNN: The Latest Pfizer Statement Has Me On The Edge 
With tears of gratitude in my eyes, one day in February, I drove to a clinic in Wyoming, Minnesota, and got my first injection of the Pfizer vaccine. I qualified for it as the father of a boy with Down syndrome, a condition that comes with increased medical risks from Covid-19. In May, shortly after the vaccine received emergency use authorization for 12 to 15 year olds, my 14-year-old son received his first Pfizer dose, and when my daughter turned 12 at the end of the month, she followed. (David M. Perry, 7/10)

The New York Times: Why The Most Unusual Covid Cases Matter 
Like many people around the world and in Brazil where she lives, Parouhi Darakjian Kouyoumdjian became infected with the coronavirus last year; she had mild symptoms and recovered. But her case is remarkable: Ms. Kouyoumdjian is a centenarian. Still, while the elderly are more likely to suffer severe and fatal cases of Covid-19, Ms. Kouyoumdjian is not alone. She is part of a study led by Mayana Zatz, director of the Human Genome Research Center at the University of São Paulo, to understand how very old people who became infected with SARS-CoV-2 can emerge unscathed. (Roxanne Khamsi, 7/12)

Scientific American: The Power Of Local Celebrities In The Fight Against Vaccine Hesitancy
Calling all doctors, local politicians, clergy, social media influencers, and others with clout in your communities: Please become public advocates for vaccines. Right now. Calling all local journalists, too: Please amplify your neighbors’ advocacy, and add some of your own. This is a time when you should transcend the norms of your craft. You cannot be neutral and still claim to have done your job—not on this topic, not now. (Dan Gillmor, Steven Corman and Michael Simeone, 7/11)

Los Angeles Times: Doctors Are Urged To Screen Kids For Heart Issues. That Could Have Helped My Sister And Me 
When my younger sister was 18, she began fainting in her dorm room at the University of Colorado Boulder. By the time I passed out in a parking lot a year and a half later — at age 24 — we knew that a genetic heart arrhythmia called Long QT Syndrome (Type 2) was the culprit. An electrical abnormality that made our hearts quiver instead of pump, Long QT could have caused both of us to die of cardiac arrest. (Katherine E. Standefer, 7/12)

USA Today: 'Doctors Are Still Stunned:' How Did Foreign Bacteria Leave A Texas Girl With Brain Damage ?
For most of the past six weeks, 4-year-old Lylah Baker has been struggling to survive an infection that doctors at Children’s Medical Center Dallas couldn’t beat back. It started out like a typical stomach bug, but within days tore through her body and into her brain. Lylah’s family told me that doctors thought she had a rare autoimmune disorder that can be triggered by an infection. They put a tube down her throat to help her breathe. They gave her CT and MRI scans, and hooked her to machines to filter and replace her blood.  They administered steroids and multiple antibiotics. She still wasn’t getting any better. (Alison Young, 7/11)

Dallas Morning News: Big Tech Is Changing The Way We Monitor Our Health. Should We Let It?
With the introduction of wearable technologies such as the Apple Watch, patients have been able to monitor their health like never before. Advocating for patients to take charge of their own health has been a goal for many doctors, hospitals and big tech companies seeking to disrupt a system ripe for change. One of the Apple Watch’s unique features is to screen for an irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation, a condition the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects will affect 12.1 million people in the United States by 2030. Diagnosing and treating atrial fibrillation can help prevent strokes and other conditions that cause thousands of deaths each year. In 2018 alone, the CDC calculated nearly 180,000 people died from conditions related to atrial fibrillation. (Brian Carr, 7/11)

The Baltimore Sun: A Simple Fix For Iron Deficiency In Women: Intravenous Infusions 
Gov. Larry Hogan recently announced a four-year, $72 million program to support maternal and child health with an emphasis on prevention and early intervention. “By investing in access to prenatal care, postpartum care and child health visits,” the governor said, “we can improve a wide range of outcomes that potentially impact the health of multiple generations of Marylanders.” (Dan Morhaim and Michael Auerbach, 7/12)

The Boston Globe: School Vaccination Requirements May Lead To Other Health Disparities 
COVID-19 vaccines illustrate the transformative power of vaccination to control infectious illness, and some schools have implemented mandates. In this context, the Massachusetts Legislature is considering two vaccination bills that would end or limit access to school, day care, or even college for the roughly 1 percent of Massachusetts children or young adults using a religious exemption. One of the bills would also allow vaccination of children without parental consent or knowledge — irrespective of age or capacity—and would also limit medical exemptions. While broad vaccine coverage is important to control infectious illness, it is imperative that citizens appreciate the destructive consequences of these bills. (Sylvia Fogel, Andrew Zimmerman, Charlotte Mao and John Gaitanis, 7/10)

Bloomberg: The Best Prescription For Growth? National Health Care
With policy shifting away from Covid relief toward more long-term goals such as shoring up infrastructure and promoting competition, U.S. lawmakers have a rare opportunity to address the American economy’s deep structural issues. And because the pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to businesses, workers in danger of displacement want some sort of reassurance that their lives won’t be upended. Now is therefore the perfect time to revisit a big idea that seems to have fallen by the wayside: national health insurance. (Noah Smith, 7/10)

The Washington Post: In D.C.’s Ward 8, We Are Shifting The Locus Of Power In Health Care 
With two-thirds of adult Americans having received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, the quest for herd immunity turns to vaccinating the harder-to-reach communities — including many communities of color, which remain under-vaccinated compared to their White peers. We must recognize that in this next chapter of the vaccine rollout, it’s not the medical or public health professionals who know best, but the communities themselves. When the former first lady of D.C., Cora Masters Barry, invited our institute to help organize a mass vaccination event at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center she founded in Ward 8, we immediately reached out to community-based organizations such as the Family Success Centers, established by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), and the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative. Rather than taking a top-down approach to administering vaccines, our years of experience have taught us that success hinges on collaborating directly with the community. (Jehan "Gigi" El-Bayoumi, 7/9)